“Today’s tragic attack on the Providence dome was brutal, senseless, and unprovoked, but it could have been worse. This blast was meant to be part of a coordinated series of malicious actions against our city domes. From New Miami to Atlanta, from Newer York to Phoenix, the plans were in place for the most extreme disruption we’ve ever seen. Fortunately the company was able to thwart the master plot before it was fully carried out.”
Eli stared up into the CloudNet sphere from the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees. On the sofa nearby, Father’s brow was furrowed in a scowl.
Like his sons, Daedalus Papadopoulos had dark eyes and black hair that he wore to his shoulders. He was the head of the Division of Rebuilding and Relocation, but when he’d heard how Eli and Sebastian had been picked up at the perimeter that afternoon, he’d left in the middle of an important meeting and flown straight home from Chicago. Sebastian had done most of the talking and had been able to mollify him a little—Sebastian had a way of calming people—but Eli could tell Father was still furious. And that was without knowing the full story. Eli and Sebastian weren’t about to tell anyone what had happened with the Outsider. At least none of them had been hurt. Besides, Eli had unintentionally broken a strict company rule: Outsiders were so dangerous that InfiniCorp prohibited anyone from communicating with them. So Eli and Sebastian had agreed to keep quiet about it. Why get themselves into more trouble than they were in already?
Sebastian sat beside Father, his jaw tight. On the edge of the rug, Marilyn’s gaze was fixed on Grandfather. She seemed to hang on every word.
“Rest assured, the company is strong and well organized. Already we’ve made great progress in undoing the damage and have confirmation on who was responsible. As is too often the case, today’s dreadful proceedings were indeed devised by the same criminal element we’ve seen so many times before. It was yet another act of vicious mischief carried out by the Fog.”
Eli sat up straighter at the mention of the Fog. He’d always been curious about Foggers. In InfiniBook stories they were often the villains, mysterious Outsiders with twisted motives and grand plans to destroy the company. They were the worst of the worst. Eli didn’t know much about them, but today the terrors of Outside felt more real to him than ever.
Grandfather went on. “Even now, mere hours after the explosions, we already have the situation under control. At this hour, the Division of Freedom has the masterminds of the attacks in our custody. Especially troubling is that the Outsider Foggers who carried out these cowardly actions had help from Inside Fogger agents.”
The image in the sphere changed: now it was the head of a thin, unsmiling girl with hair that jutted out in all directions like an insane person’s.
“Her name is Tabitha Bloomberg. Until this morning she was a trusted employee, a rising star in a branch of the Department of Intern Relations in St. Louis. That goes to show how, even with their compromised, often brain-fevered reasoning, the Foggers can still be cunning.” As Grandfather spoke, the camera slowly closed in on the girl. “She wasn’t high in the criminal organization, and yet hers is the same unfortunate story we’ve seen before: a misguided young lady who allowed herself to be coerced by lies. In doing so, she turned her back on all of us and on everything she once held dear.”
Eli studied the image, looking deep into the girl’s eyes. There was something scary behind them. Anybody could see that.
She was a monster.
Eli thought again of the Outsider with the white eye, and the shadow he’d seen under the city. As a younger child Eli had read InfiniBook stories about disappearances, kids snatched from their beds at night and taken somewhere into the desert for unknown Fogger purposes, never to be heard from again. He shuddered.
“Needless to say,” Grandfather continued, “such a lapse in judgment is a tragedy.” The girl’s face faded and Grandfather reappeared. Behind him the president nodded, her expression grave. Eli had met her once, long ago, at one of Grandfather’s parties. That was back when she was still an InfiniCorp VP. All he remembered about her was that she’d made a long, boring speech and that the whites of her eyes had been dyed bright green. Since then she’d had them redyed a shimmery gold color.
Now Grandfather’s voice went even gentler. “Friends and neighbors, sleep easy. Every time the enemies of liberty make a move and try to frighten us, the company learns more about them and is better able to shield you from harm. Our commitment to the protection of our cities, the preservation of civilization itself, remains firm. InfiniCorp will never stop looking out for you.”
After that there was loud clapping. There must have been a large crowd of people just off camera. Eli wondered if Mother was there. She’d had to stay in New Washington because the Senate had called an emergency session to express support for the victims’ families and to provide a vote of confidence for Grandfather’s leadership in this time of crisis. The clapping went on for a long time. Behind Grandfather, the president clapped too.
* * *
Finally Sebastian was turning fourteen, and InfiniCorp was taking him away from home to begin his internship. He was very excited.
The evening before his departure, Mother and Father took the boys out to celebrate. They went to a restaurant called the Brain Room, an exclusive club at the top of the highest building in the Providence dome, where senior executives had a panoramic view of the city. The brain itself, the central, controlling node of the city’s CloudNet, was a mass of wires, lights, and grayish goo floating in a giant transparent container in the middle of the room. The place was busy, but the maître d’ escorted them to a special table set up just for their family. To even step inside the Brain Room you pretty much had to know somebody in upper management.
Eli’s family had their own special table.
Sebastian was all smiles. As they sat down, Eli watched the artificial sun start to set over Federal Hill. Ever since the explosion, almost two weeks ago, it had been glowing an odd pinkish color. The CloudNet kept assuring everyone that it was okay, that the company would find a fix for it soon, but in the meantime Eli was having a hard time getting used to it.
Mother and Father seemed distracted, but only a little. Mother kept saying things like, “We’re so pleased for you, Sebastian.”
Father kept saying things like, “We know you’ll knock ’em dead.”
Yet the occasion only left Eli feeling uneasy. The truth was, now that Sebastian was about to start his internship, Eli’s own Internship Assignment suddenly seemed more imminent. He couldn’t help recalling what Spider had said, that the family was at a loss as to what to do with him. Today especially it was starting to feel like a black cloud over his head.
He kept staring out the window. From this height he could see the whole city, including the river, the old state capitol building, and the East Side, where he lived. What was more, if he squinted into the electromagnetic shimmer of the dome, he could just about see through it. It had something to do with the near-horizontal angle of the dome here, so close to the top. After a moment he turned back to Sebastian.
“I don’t see what the big deal is,” he said. “It’s not like there was ever any doubt whether you were going to get placed in an upper-management track. We all do.”
“That’s not true and you know it,” Sebastian said, annoyed. “Not everybody does.”
“Okay, maybe not everybody everybody. But everybody in the family. When I’m fourteen they’ll select me for a good position too.”
Father raised his eyebrows.
“Eli, what’s gotten into you?” Mother asked. “This is your brother’s big night. We’re happy for him.”
Eli knew he was being unfair. If anyone had earned his way to a prestigious internship, it was his brother. Sebastian had been accepted into the topmost tier of the Management Training Program—the Senior Leadership Path. He was going to New Washington to learn everything there was to know about security systems in every market and every division of the entire company: Freedom,
Smart Investments, Better Housing, Fine Dining, Smaller Government, Free and Fair Elections, Sensible Light Fixtures, Personal Fulfillment, Fashionable Accessories—the list went on and on. Spider had been assigned as Sebastian’s mentor. Sebastian was excited about this because Spider had a reputation as a cunning business strategist and was well respected in the company.
For Sebastian, this was all a very big deal. An honor.
He was being set up for great things.
Deep down, Eli really was happy for his brother, but for some reason he couldn’t make himself feel it just then.
Sebastian leveled his gaze at Eli. He leaned in close. “Don’t be so sure everyone in our family gets into upper management. The way you’re going, Eli, you just might be the first who doesn’t. The family embarrassment.”
It was like a slap. Eli knew he deserved it for what he’d said, but it took him by surprise anyway. He couldn’t look at Sebastian for the rest of the meal.
The representative from Intern Relations arrived after breakfast the next morning. A serious young woman in a bright green balloon suit with the InfiniCorp logo on the lapel, she was extremely respectful to Mother and Father. Even so, it was obvious she was on a schedule. Sebastian was ready, waiting on the sofa with his suitcase. Mother and Father had both delayed their transports so they could see him off. Now that the moment had come, though, it seemed like none of them knew what to say. In the end their goodbyes felt stiff and short.
“So long, Father,” Sebastian said, taking his hand and shaking it. He tried to shake hands with Mother too, but she insisted on giving him a long hug instead. Eli noticed that Sebastian kept glancing over at the rep, his face turning red. Mother’s voice was quiet and unsteady. “Take care, Sebastian. Be careful.” Even Marilyn, in her own strange way, seemed sad to see him go. She stood on her haunches and prodded his knee with her snout.
Finally he came over to Eli and held out his hand. Eli took it. Their arms pumped up and down. “Sorry about last night,” Sebastian said. “About the way I spoke to you.”
“It’s okay. Me too.”
There was a brief moment in which neither of them said anything else, but then Sebastian did something Eli didn’t expect. He leaned in close so that nobody else could hear and whispered, “You’re the only person I’m going to admit this to, but I’m terrified.”
At first Eli thought he was kidding. Then he saw in his eyes that it was true, he was scared. Sebastian was always so self-confident; it was strange to see him unsure of himself now. Eli felt bad for him.
“You’ll do great,” he assured him. “You always do.”
After that the rep helped carry his bags to the landing pad beside the house. The transport’s silver and green wings unfolded and its propellers started to glow. The family watched it lift from the backyard. It rose high into the air and then passed through a hole that opened in the dome’s electromagnetic field. It was pouring rain Outside, and some of it drizzled in. The real sky was cheerless and gray. Soon the transport was only a green dot in the distance, but they kept watching long after it was too far away to see.
Mother dabbed at her eyes. No one spoke for a long time.
Eventually Father put his hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, son. Your day will come.” Mother kissed the top of his head, but all Eli felt was a dull tightness in his throat.
It feels like everything is going to be different now, Marilyn observed. She sighed.
Eli pulled away from his parents. He ran back into the house and up to his room, and then he threw himself onto his bed. Until that moment he hadn’t allowed himself to think about life without Sebastian. Now the future was like a weight around his neck. It wasn’t as if he had lots of friends. The days ahead looked grim: endless study modules, long lectures with Dr. Toffler and Dr. Avila. And what if Father was wrong? What if his day never came? Maybe he really would end up being the only member of the family not to make it into management. And if so, then what? There was only one company. Where would they put him? Customer Service? Inventory? Something even worse? How would he ever face the humiliation?
How would he face Father and Mother?
Sebastian had said it himself. Being a Papadopoulos didn’t guarantee anything.
With his head deep in his pillow, Eli decided there was only one thing to do. It was time he got as serious about his place in InfiniCorp as Sebastian always had been. Eli would be fourteen soon enough. He needed to forget about sky glitches and savages and Foggers and instead devote himself to his company training the way everyone wanted him to. Because unless he did, he’d be the family embarrassment forever.
He’d been living like a kid for too long.
He was a Papadopoulos. It was time he faced the future.
6
grape soda sky
With Sebastian gone and Mother and Father so frequently away, Eli’s parents arranged that a specialist from the Department of Domestic Services would come to live in the house with Eli. Her name was Claudia. Big-boned and pretty at twenty-eight, she had olive skin, a kind face, and feathery black hair that she kept tied in a bun. Officially she was there to help the cleaning and cooking robots, but Marilyn didn’t think the robots really needed the help. She suspected the real reason Father and Mother wanted Claudia in the house was so that Eli would have company.
Marilyn felt offended. Wasn’t she company enough?
At mealtimes, Marilyn would watch Claudia glide around the kitchen, frying up meat patties or adding spices to simmering chilies. She would even set the table and clean up afterward. It was fascinating to see a human doing the cooking instead of a droid.
“You have a wonderful appetite, gordito,” Claudia would say to Eli as he worked his way through a stack of her cumin pancakes. “I make you a thick stew for supper, no?”
When Eli first told Marilyn he was going to devote himself to his InfiniCorp training, Marilyn laughed. She felt sure that after a few tedious afternoon sessions at his desk, his newfound determination would waver.
But then he surprised her: three weeks later he was still working at his desk every afternoon, long after Dr. Toffler shut itself down for its daily recharge. Marilyn was impressed, even proud of him, but on a personal level his sudden ambition had a serious downside. It meant Eli had much less time to spend with her. They weren’t talking as much, their afternoon sky-gazing sessions became rare, and even when they did anything together, Eli’s mind was often elsewhere.
Eli was her only friend, and Marilyn was lonely.
She had little to do now except waste the long hours until Eli finally pulled himself from his studies. Every now and then Claudia would come across her flopping around the house and get annoyed.
“¡Anda! Anda!” she would shout, shooing her off the sofa or the windowsill or wherever she happened to be. “Everywhere you shed! And you leave germs, filthy thing! ¡Abominación sucia! ¡Máquina monstruosa!” Marilyn would drag herself away, and then Claudia would disinfect the area.
Which wasn’t exactly a boost to Marilyn’s already low self-esteem.
In recent weeks she’d become aware that she seemed to repulse most other creatures. The last few times she and Eli had walked the streets of Providence, she noticed hostile glances from passing employees, looks of disgust or even fear. She’d seen dogs bare their teeth and cats arch their backs as if readying for a fight. It was as if everyone, people and animals alike, could tell there was something corrupted about her, something repellent that made them shrink away.
And the undeniable fact was, they were right.
Yes, she looked like an animal, but wasn’t she really just a grotesque imitation, about as natural as a cleaning robot? She asked herself what kind of mongoose enjoyed watching cloud commercials? Or had long telepathic conversations with a human boy? There was almost nothing animal about her anymore. No feral desires. No wild instincts. She was an abomination of nature. A freak.
Of course she made everybody uneasy.
In fact, Eli was
the only person who seemed at ease with her. Which was why she preferred to stay close to him even now that he had less time for her. As he worked with Dr. Toffler, Marilyn would find a quiet place in his room. That was how Marilyn ended up making a new and startling discovery about the chip in her brain.
She was under Eli’s bed, gazing absently in the direction of Eli’s overhead fan, when suddenly it started to hum. It stopped after a second or two, but by then Marilyn was alert, her eyes wide. Had she done that? At the moment it happened, she’d felt something in her brain, like a spark. She rolled onto her stomach and fixed her gaze on the fan. She tried to make it hum again. Nothing happened. But she continued to concentrate, focusing her thoughts on it, imagining herself traveling inside its motor and through the processors that controlled it.
All at once it hummed to life, and this time its blades started spinning.
Eli looked up from his desk. “That’s weird.” He got up and jiggled the control that turned it off. Then he went back to his work.
But in the darkness under his mattress, Marilyn felt a sudden thrill. Somehow she’d tapped into the electrical system just by thinking about it.
Over the next few days, she discovered she could link to any of the various processors around the house. She could communicate with the dishwasher, the security system, even the sensors on the toilet seat. She felt her way through Eli’s father’s electric razor and explored the complex logic of the toxin-detection software.
And then she made her most thrilling discovery yet: Sebastian’s old Dream Gamer sent vivid images and sensations directly into her mind as if they were really happening to her. Without leaving the house she began to have incredible new experiences. She could pass entire days lying motionless, her eyes glassed over as she mentally flew over fields of dancing rhinos or rowed with Vikings to conquer exciting new lands.
Every now and then Eli’s voice would break through as if from far away. “Why don’t you take a walk or something?” he would say. “It can’t be healthy for a mongoose to lie around all the time. Go get some fresh air, explore the yard.”
A Crack in the Sky Page 8